What a let-down. I had my fingers crossed that Thief would become one of the stand-out next-gen titles of 2014, setting a high bar on what’s in store for PS4 and Xbox One over the next year. As you’ll have heard by now, it didn’t quite leave the impression we were expecting.

According to Metro’s review, what we’ve actually gotten is a confused muddle in which ‘worrying about [what] other people will think of it seems to be the core problem’. Not a resounding recommendation, then.

MORE: Thief PS4 review – stolen dreams

It’s disappointing to hear that the game’s AI isn’t its strongest suite. I always had trouble with the stealth genre due to a laughable lack of patience, but shortcomings in NPC intelligence haul me out of the moment even if my own incompetence doesn’t. It’s hard to stay immersed in a world when guards display an absence of common sense; it forcibly reminds you that you’re playing a game, and suddenly your espionage skills feel a bit cheap as a result.

It’s a shame, as that underlying fear of being caught is one of the most intoxicating the industry has to offer. Little is as engrossing as the terror of being a hair’s breadth from discovery. Moreover, the thrill of panic when you dart into cover a split-second before being spotted is electrifying.

It must be incredibly hard for developers to balance, though. You want players to feel exposed so there’s always a sense of risk. At the other end of the spectrum, you can’t make things too punishing because they’ll end up frustrated.

The only hard and fast rule I can think of is avoiding the temptation to rely on ‘cinematic’ moments. This is something I realised with last year’s Tomb Raider reboot. Although it trades on Lara Croft’s new-found vulnerability, my regular defeat when sliding down obstacle-strewn hills meant that the resulting (and unsettling) death animations lost much of their potency. I became numbed to them, and began finding those sections annoying instead of thrilling. I suppose the key lies in building fear through core gameplay rather than shock-value.

For all its flaws, it sounds as if this is something Thief gets right. As Metro’s review notes, the ‘basic gameplay loop of creeping around unseen… and snatching valuables from unsuspecting passers-by is hugely satisfying’. It’s not much to cling to after a disappointing score of 5/10, but with luck any potential sequel – or the inevitable Dishonored 2 – will keep building upon those foundations.

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